U.S.- China Trade War Catches a Propaganda Fire

The United States-China trade war has entered a crucial phase, something that can be termed as a propaganda stage after China released a video, saying China “Never Kneel Down”.

The video has been released by China Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson in the social media platform, a copy of it seen on social media X.

The audio-visual clip opens with the line: ‘Have You Heard of the Eye of the Storm’?....It appears calm for a moment, but it actually is a deadly trap…The U.S. has stirred up a global tariff storm, and deliberately targeting China, playing a 90-days pause game with other nations, forcing them to limit trade with China. This is just like the deadly trap of the eye of the storm….”

The accompanying visuals are actually the visuals of the storm in an ocean. For every sentence in the voice-over, suitable visuals have been arranged to make the audio-visual impactful. The tone of the audio-visual is one of telling the global audience of the U.S. actions in the past that brought down many big companies of nations through its policies. China calls the U.S. tariffs as a ‘bully’, and says in the audio-visual: ‘Bowing to a bully is like drinking poison to quench thirst…History has proven compromise won’t earn you mercy’.

When an initial conflict enters a propaganda phase, there is no stopping, a war becomes imminent.

The U.S.-China trade war gets real with China deciding “not to kneel down”and the United States sticking to its stand.

The United States has imposed 145 per cent tariff on China while China has imposed 125 per cent tariff on the U.S. imports. As China had been the biggest trade partner of the U.S., a huge volume of trade has been affected in the trade conflict between the world’s two largest economies.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi had on Monday likened U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade policy as "the open return of the law of the jungle," during an BRICS ‘s international meet in Brazil. "If we choose to stay silent or compromise, it will only embolden the bully further," Wang had noted, according to reports.

The audio-visual clip is actually meant for China’s domestic as well as foreign audience. However, releasing a video is a stamp-post that signifies that the conflict is entering a red zone.

China Putting Up a Strong Face, But Reality is Different

The audio-visual propaganda of China, however, is direct; and appears as if it is prepared with a sense of desperation. China has failed to hide its desperation on the Trump tariff and its negative impact on Chinese trade.

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang has been talking, most of the time, of the U.S. tariff at most international meets, that only shows how important U.S.-China trade relations had been for China’s economy. A few days back, Wang, speaking on the sidelines of a China-Central Asia foreign minister meet in Kazakhstan, said Beijing would seek solidarity with other nations on the U.S. tariff and try to expose U.S. egoism and bullying.

According to reports dropping in, China’s domestic economy has started being negatively hit by the U.S. tariff. Those companies engaged in export-oriented manufacturing have started feeling the heat of Trump tariff; and Chinese government, according to reports, is encouraging them to sell locally. However, China being primarily a manufacturing country, selling locally invites huge competition and very poor profit margin. Many companies have taken the government encouragement to sell locally in poor light, and if the Trump tariff continues, they may instead eventually choose to shut rather than selling locally. Selling in the U.S. market brings them good profit, while selling in local Chinese market leaves them with poor or no profit. Trump tariff threatens to create a situation of unemployment in China. So far, China had been using its demography in being able to manufacture goods in highly competitive price—rather cheap price—as compared to manufacturing in the U.S. where the labour cost is much higher than the labour cost in China.

According to reports, factories in China are complaining about price war, payment delays, low profits and even poor business.

Why?

China economy is export dependent. China’s huge population has been converted into a manufacturing force, and the population now has been able to produce cheap goods that has been flooding the international markets for quite some time. U.S. President Trump is the first man who has taken direct head-on with China, due to the U.S.’s huge trade deficit in the mutual trade. People, particularly the middle-class people of the United States, have been habituated in consuming cheap Chinese goods to enjoy a good life; but this, according to Trump economy, is bad for the United States in the long run. This is what President Trump wants to correct, and the result is the trade war with China.

As far as the 90-days tariff pause with other nations is concerned, the U.S. actually wants to contain surging China, which has spread its trade all across the globe including in the Latin America right under the nose of the United States—something which the U.S. detests.

Possible Ramifications—Global Economic Slow-down

China is putting up a strong face and the United States is looking forward to strike a deal with China with regard to tariff. The audio-visual clip prepared in a style of propaganda has threatened to make the matter worse. In fact, propaganda is a sign that one party take the other as its enemy, and instead of talking about itself, talks about the other party in a negative light.

Due to the trade war between the two nations, there already are predictions of economic slow-down for both the giants, fears of global economic slow down has become more real now than before.

In the U.S., economic slow-down has already hit in the first three quarters, and U.S. President Trump has urged his people to have patience.

According to reports, Americans have grown worry of Trump economic policy and are growing more and more skeptical of his approach to economy. At a rally in Michigan on Tuesday held to mark his 100 days in office, Trump asked his people to keep patience saying that the tariffs on the U.S.'s trading partners could lead to a resurgence in the domestic manufacturing.

To sum up,

The trade war between the world’s two largest economy has created a situation in which the risks of a global economic recession is high.